1. How different is Buddhism and Hinduism from Jainism? What, according to the Buddha, is the human problem and how can humans overcome this problem?

You have two questions to answer here. First question is about finding the differences between Hinduism & Buddhism, and Jainism. My suggestion is to follow these steps; 

1. See the grading rubric underneath the midterm questions. 

2. See the list of some aspects of religions in the table below, and decide which one you want to focus on. Let’s say you decided to focus on aspects [1] and [2], the fundamental beliefs and rituals of the three religions, the next move is then 

3.  Identify the basic teachings/ beliefs of the three religion you want to discuss such as Ahimsa, aparigraha, samsara [ Jainism], the four Noble Truth, the eight Noble paths [Buddhism], and yoga, Samkhya, etc [Hinduism]. As for rituals, as examples, let’s go with meditation, yoga, puja [Hinduism], meditation, socially engaged Buddhism activities [Buddhism], vegetarianism, fasting, meditation, etc [Jainism]. 

4.  From there you can see in what aspects they differ from each other. list those differences and elaborate them. 

5.  Your essay The essay should have a good organization which includes a beginning, a body, and a conclusion 

A beginning/ introductory paragraph will contain thesis statement and elaboration of it. Thesis statement is one or two sentences at the beginning or end of the first paragraph which states central idea/ focus of the essay.  In your case, the focus of the paper is clear, that is, to discuss the differences between the three religions. The differences which you will discover after following the steps above. One example of thesis statement could be “the essay seeks to discuss the differences between Buddhism & Hinduism, and Jainism in terms of the ritual of meditation and the teaching on liberation/ enlightenment”.

The body of paragraph will be the discussion of the issue being stated in the thesis statement. This part can consist as many as sentences as possible. For this question, you will have at least two paragraphs. The first paragraph is for the first question on the differences. And the second is for the second question on what Buddhism sees as the human problem, general problem which every human is faced with, and how Buddhism thinks we can overcome that problem. 

The conclusion will be about summaries of what have been discussed, perhaps accompanied by reflection of future research plan, suggestions, lesson learned, etc. 

components of the religions

Buddhism

Hinduism

Jainism

1. Fundamental   beliefs/ teachings

2. Forms of   ritual, worship/liturgy, special ceremonies, particular/distinctive practices

3. Major   religious festivals or sacred days (and their dates and days during the year)   they celebrate

4. symbols,   images, cultic objects (including sacred scriptures, if of artistic or   aesthetic merit) of the religions. 

5. why and how   are the religions come about in the first place?

6. What the   sources of authority or basis for the religion (such as inspired scriptures,   teachers, direct revelations, and the like)

7. Gender related   issues